May 10, 2007 - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced the "Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007" in the US Senate today. This important legislation largely parallels the "Internet Radio Equality Act", H.R. 2060, a House Bill, which is intended to save many commercial webcasters from bankruptcy and provide relief to non-profits. The Senate version offers important distinctions for Educational Webcasters at high school and colleges across the nation, which will prevent a great many from being forced to shut down their stations and withdraw this educational opportunity for students.

*****************************

On the news page of our website, Bart has posted a pdf with more information. We'll need to post a new form letter, I think, directed to Congress to support the proposed legislation.

Any ideas you have to help WCSB respond to the Webstream challenges we face are welcomed and appreciated.

What this has to do with us is EVERYTHING. If the legislation passes, the quarterly SoundExchange reports we've been fretting over may vanish in the light of democratic decency. Just this week, I had to compile the list of everything played on WCSB during the last two weeks in March, amounting to 2,599 lines of data. A hearty "THANK YOU" to Gary and Bart because I couldn't have done it without you.

As we've been saying all along, most of the artists we play are unlikely to see any amount of money from SoundExchange. Yet, if we lose our ability to broadcast online, or it becomes too burdensome, those same artists will lose a valuable promotional opportunity to reach an expanding audience through our efforts. The proposed legislation would classify stations like WCSB differently than large corporate broadcasters, and we should support its passage. I'm looking into the details, and we'll provide our listeners and supporters with instructions for contacting key decision makers in the near future.

We're fighting the good fight, folks. This is about free speech. Stay tuned for more information.